Solana
Proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain with SOL as native token and a 5,000 lamport base fee per signature.
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Solana key facts
| Category | Layer 1 blockchain |
|---|---|
| Platforms | Mainnet, RPC |
| Token | SOL |
| Fees | 5,000 lamports per signature base fee, plus optional prioritization fee |
| Open source | Yes (Agave validator client) |
| Company | Solana Foundation (non-profit, Zug, Switzerland) |
SOL token
- Price
- $81.6 -7.0% 24h
- Market cap
- $48.2B
- Fully diluted value
- $52B
- 30-day change
- -25.6%
Market data: CoinGecko, updated Nov 10, 2026. Educational content, not financial advice.
What is Solana?
Solana is a proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain whose fees are paid in SOL. Each transaction pays a base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature, split 50% burned and 50% to the validator, plus an optional prioritization fee. The Solana Foundation is a non-profit based in Zug, Switzerland.
How Solana works
Solana uses proof of stake.
Validators process transactions and vote on which blocks to add, and each vote is weighted by the SOL staked with that validator. Holders who do not run a validator delegate SOL to one, which raises its voting weight without handing over control of the tokens. Rewards come from inflation, which started at 8% a year, falls 15% each year and settles at a fixed 1.5%.
Every transaction pays a base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature, half burned and half paid to the validator. A prioritization fee is optional and goes 100% to the validator: it equals the compute unit price times the compute unit limit, divided by 1,000,000. Each instruction gets 200,000 compute units by default, and a transaction can request up to 1,400,000.
How to start with Solana
- You need a self-custody wallet that supports Solana.
- The Solana wallet directory lists 26 Solana-native wallets, with Solflare, Backpack and Phantom featured, and filters for iOS, Android, browser extensions and hardware support, as well as staking, multisig and card spending.
- Fund it with SOL from an exchange, since every fee is paid in SOL.
- Staking needs a wallet that supports it.
- Your SOL moves into a separate stake account, and one stake account can delegate to only one validator, so spreading stake means creating several accounts.
- New stake starts as activating and earns nothing until fully active.
- Unstaking goes through a cooldown, and delegating or undelegating can take several days to take effect.
Solana fees and limits
- That balance is refundable rather than spent, and a single account can hold at most 10 MiB of data.
Solana charges fees in SOL and debits them from the fee payer account before the transaction runs, so a failed transaction still pays. The total is a base fee per signature plus an optional priority fee priced per compute unit. The priority fee is calculated on the compute unit limit you request, not on the units the transaction actually uses, so setting a limit far above need means paying for unused compute. Storage is a separate cost: every account must hold a minimum balance proportional to its data size, computed as (account size + 128 bytes) x 3,480 lamports per byte-year x 2 years.
Risks to know before using Solana
- Your validator's uptime and commission set your staking return.
- Slashing on Solana is not automatic, but an attacker who halts the network can be slashed when it restarts, and delegators to that validator could lose part of their stake.
- SOL added to an already delegated stake account is not delegated automatically.
- Fixing that means undelegating the whole account, which stops rewards for several days, so the docs recommend opening a new stake account instead.
Solana alternatives
Other projects people compare with Solana.
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Proof-of-work peer-to-peer currency network with a hard cap of 21 million bitcoins.
EVM-compatible blockchain using Proof of Staked Authority with 21 validators and BNB as gas token.
Proof-of-stake smart contract blockchain with ETH as its native currency.
Where Solana ranks on DappAtlas
Listed next to Solana
- NEAR Protocol Layer 1 blockchain
Solana pros and cons
- Base fee fixed at 5,000 lamports per signature
- Half of each base fee is burned
- Validator client Agave is public on GitHub
- Prioritization fees go 100% to the validator and add cost when competing for block space
- Default compute limit is 200,000 CU per instruction; heavier programs must request more
- Fees are always paid in SOL
Solana FAQ
What is Solana?
Solana is a proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain whose fees are paid in SOL. Each transaction pays a base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature, split 50% burned and 50% to the validator, plus an optional prioritization fee. The Solana Foundation is a non-profit based in Zug, Switzerland.
How much does Solana cost?
5,000 lamports per signature base fee, plus optional prioritization fee, according to Solana’s own page (checked Sep 26, 2026).
Does Solana have a token?
Yes, SOL. Its market cap was $48.2B on CoinGecko on Nov 10, 2026. Educational content, not financial advice.
Sources
How this page works
Sources: Solana: official site, Solana: Fees docs, Solana: Agave GitHub repository. Data as of Oct 1, 2026.
Not affiliated with any project listed. Educational content, not financial advice.